China: No human infection of bird flu reported
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-10-27 12:41

A Ministry of Health official said Thursday, October 27, that the ministry has not received any report on human infection of bird flu in China, according to a Xinhua report.

"We've noticed the media report saying human infection and death occurred in the area in Hunan with bird flu outbreak. However, the ministry to date has not received any report of human infection of bird flu," the official said.

A health worker disinfects a vehicle coming into the Shebu Township where a bird flu outbreak was reported in Xiangtan, Central China's Hunan Province Wednesday October 26, 2005. [Xinhua]

A Ministry of Agriculture official said Thursday they are closely monitoring the situation, and have worked out an emergency plan in case of human infection of bird flu.

The agriculture official said in case of human infection, the ministry will actively cooperate with the Ministry of Health in tracking the sources of any bird flu outbreaks.

A Hong Kong-based newspaper reported Thursday that a 12-year-old girl has died suffering flu-like symptoms in a village in Hunan Province where the third outbreak of bird flu in a week has been confirmed.

He Yin and her 10-year-old brother fell ill about a week ago after eating a chicken that had died from an unspecified illness in the village of Wantang, the South China Morning Post said, quoting their father, He Tieguang. "We had dead chickens before and nobody has ever got sick because of that. So I thought it's okay," her father was quoted as saying.

So far there was no evidence linking her death to the outbreak of bird flu in the village in Hunan province and none of the adults in her family had shown any flu symptoms, the paper said.

China reported an outbreak of bird flu in Hunan this week following cases in northern Inner Mongolia and eastern Anhui province which it said had all been brought under control.

The World Health Organization has said the H5N1 strain of bird flu is endemic in poultry across much of Asia. Health experts fear it may only be a matter of time before it develops the ability to pass easily from human to human.

H5N1 has killed more than 60 people in four Asian countries and reached as far west as European Russia, Turkey and Romania, tracking the paths of migratory birds.